A chance to make it right
by afrah11
Summary: What happened to Ziva after Vance broke the team?. Set 10 years after Judgement Day. Now she needs Tony, but...will he be there for her?
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or its characters_

_This story is not beta'ed, so every mistake belongs to me._

_I hope you like it!_

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****A chance to make it right**

After another day of work, he was so tired that he could've stayed in the car for the rest of the night, but he knew it was only going to make things worse since he was not going to be able to get the rest he so desperately needed.

By the time he approached his apartment door, he was half asleep, so he managed to kick the door open and went straight to his couch, and closed his eyes.

He hesitated a bit before pushing himself up from the couch; according to the clock hanging on the living room wall, it was quarter past 6, _I can sleep for 20 more minutes_, he thought to himself, and when he was making his way back to the couch the phone rang,

_"Who could be calling at this time God__!"._

He wasn't going to answer, but the noise did not let him sleep so he decided to pick up the phone.

_Dinozzo_, he answered.

_Mr. Anthony Dinozzo_?, came a female voice from the other side

_Yes_,

_Good morning Sr__. My name is Carla Matthews and I'm calling you from the airport. _Silence_. There's a package waiting for you._

_A package?, at the airport?, how come, I have not ordered anything. Are you sure it is for me?_

_Well Sr. all I know is that it is from Tel Aviv._

_Tel Aviv?,_ he thought to himself, _it couldn't be, or could be_?...

_I'll be there in half an hour_ and he hung the phone.

After a few minutes thinking about the woman's words, he decided it was time to find out what was going on. He knew that there was nothing that he wanted more than to know something, anything about the woman he'd been so desperately trying to find for the past 10 years with no success.

The first weeks, after their team was broken up by Director Vance were difficult, but he was convinced that Gibbs was going to find the way to bring them back together. And he was right, it only took Gibbs a couple of weeks until his gut lead him to the place where he could find evidence against Vance and was able to get them back. What nobody imagined was that, the idea of bringing Ziva back to the team and to his life was not a possibility, not any more.

No matter how hard Gibbs tried, he was never able to convince Mossad to reinstate her former position as a liaison. They never gave up though, but after two years of desperate attempts, they decided to wait until the situation settled down a bit so they could start fighting again. Unfortunately, every time they tried, the answer was always the same.

He took a quick shower, he got dressed and after 15 minutes he was on his way to the airport. Once he got there, he asked for Mrs. Matthews and a guard lead him to a private office. After a couple of minutes, a young lady in her late twenties showed up.

_Good morning, Mr. Dinozzo I presume._

_Yes, you called me because of a package_

_Yes but first, I was asked to give you this, _and she extended him an envelope. He immediately noticed it was addressed to him, as it read _**Mr. Anthony Dinozzo (Tony)**_in the front. He immediately recognized the handwriting, it was hers.

After taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes, and then he felt ready to know the content of the letter.

_Dear Tony:_

_By the time you receive this letter I will be gone. Shortly after my return to Tel Aviv, my father realised I was no longer useful to the cause, so he decided to get rid of 'the problem' by sending me to suicidal missions, once he realised I kept coming back alive, he decided to make his last move. _

_He sent me undercover into a long term mission which lasted around two years. He was sure I was not going to get alive from it. My cover was blown; I still don't know how did I manage to get alive from that one, but I did and I decided to ran away from Mossad, they were not my family nor my friends, not any more._

_I've spent the last seven years hidden, moving from one place to another. I won't lie, it has not been as difficult as I thought it ould be. But now, I'm running out of time._

_When I became part of Mossad I never thought I was going to last this long, but I did and I'm happy for it, because even when I lived through hell, I also had the chance to have an amazing life, to live wonderful moments in America, to share, to laugh, to cry and to be happy._

_I don't know if I ever let you know, of if you ever realised how much I loved you, I still do, and that is why I dare to ask you a favour._

_Nobody knows this, but when my cover was blown, I discovered something that made me move on instead of letting them kill me. The reason why I've been in the run and the one I'm writing to you. _

_You are my family, you, Gibbs, McGee, Abby, Ducky, even Palmer and Lee. This is my last request Tony, please, I need you and your help as I had never needed anyone in my entire life._

_Love_

_Ziva_

By the time he finished reading the letter, he wanted to cry, he did not know what to do, he wanted to help her, but how?, what was she talking about?, What did she mean by _I would be gone_, was she on the run again?

His thoughts were interrupted by Mrs. Matthews, who asked him If she could bring his package now. He nodded his head in an affirmative gesture as she left the room.

He was about to re-read the letter when Mrs. Matthews came back with his "package",

_God it was not a package, it was__… her._

Her big dark brown eyes, her long curly hair, maybe her skin tone was a bit lighter, but it was definitely her except for….her age. The mini Ziva should not be more than 6 years old.

His thoughts were interrupted by Mrs. Matthews, who called for his attention by introducing him to a little girl.

Mr. Dinozzo, she is your package, her name is Ariela.

The little girl was hiding behind Mrs. Mathews, hugging a teddy bear tight to her chest. Tony didn't know what to do or what to say.

After a couple of seconds he took the first step forward and crouched down to her level so he could look into her eyes_, hi Ariela, my name is Tony, do you speak English?. _She looked at him and a very shy _yes_ was all she said.

Tony looked at Mrs. Matthews and the young woman understood it was time for them to be alone.

Completely unexpected, Ariela approached him and gave him a second letter. He did not understand, but he chose to read it.

_My Dear Tony:_

_If you're reading this is because you've already met my heart, and the reason that made me stronger. She is my daughter, my life, my everything. But she cannot be with me, not any more, though I'm always going to be with her, with the both of you._

_Please Tony, I know I'm asking you the world, but I need you to take care of her. She doesn't know who her father is, and it is better if she never finds out. All she knows is that you, all of you, are our "Family from America" and that is it. _

_I have no one else to ask for help Tony, if you can't or don't want her in your life, then please help her find a decent family in America, a family who does not know anything about me, my past or my family's past. And if you have the time, visit her and introduced her to the rest of the team, she knows about them, and she'll be happy to finally get the chance to meet them._

_I'm sorry Tony, but I'll make it up for you, I promise… someday. Toda Tony._

_Ziva_

After reading the last part, he knew there was hope, he was confident.

He took Ariela's little hands in his and asked her if she was ready to go home, and she nodded her head. He asked her about her luggage and all she showed him was her teddy bear, and her back pack. Nothing else.

_Are you ready?, Come on, lets go. _But she did not move, she kept staring at him. Suddenly she asked.

_You're ima's friend__, yes?_

_Yes, I am_

_And you met her before I was born, yes?_

_Yes, you're a very smart girl._

_Are you my abba?, I mean, my daddy?_

Remembering Ziva's last letter…

_Yes Ari, I__ am._

He lifted her up and gave her a big hug, which Ariela returned. He might not have Ziva, but he had the second best, a part of her, right by his side and he wasn't going to let her go, nobody was going to take Ziva's daughter away from him like they did with her mother. Now she was his to protect, because he wanted it that way and this time, he was not going to make any more mistakes.

From that day, Ariela was his daughter.

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__Thanks for reading, I hope you like it._

_Please review._


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or its characters._

_A/N: I want to thank you all who read and reviewed chapter one. In fact I never planned on writing a second chapter, but there was a lot of people who asked me to do it. So here it is. This is the second and last chapter. Enjoy it._

_A/N2: Every mistake is mine and only mine. _

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**Thank you Ziva**

It had been six months since Ariela arrived into Tony's life and since the first day, she changed it for the best. He became the most devoted father in the entire world; Tony was not a lady's man anymore. Now he had a daughter.

The team loved Ella, as Abby chose to call her since nobody seemed to like the idea of calling her Ari, and Ella loved them back. Finally she had a family and she couldn't be happier.

Even when Tony was not Ella's biological father, it did not seem that way, since she enjoyed watching and quoting dialogues from every movie she had watched. Tony insisted that watching movies was helping her to improve her English. Ella also loved playing games on everyone, specially on Jason, Tim and Abby's son .

But one day everything changed. While Gibbs and his team were in the bullpen discussing a case involving the murder of a petty officer, a man showed up looking for Tony.

_Good morning, my name is Harrison Langdon, I'm an attorney at Law and I'm looking for Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo._

_What can I do for you?_

_I'm here on behalf of my client Mr. Liev Horrowitz. He demands the custody of Ariela DiNozzo_

Tony didn't know what to say

_And why does your client demands custody of my daughter?_

_Listen Mr. DiNozzo, we know that the minor is not your biological daughter. And the reason why my client is demanding custody of the girl is because she is his grandchild._

Tony, like the rest of the team was shocked. _How did that happened?_ This man couldn't show up just like that and try to take his kid away from him.

_Of course she is my daughter. _Tony's voice was loud

_You can say whatever you want, DNA doesn't lie and the paternity tests are going to prove you wrong. Have a nice day. _The man said as he handed Tony a stack of papers.

Tony felt like crying, he was desperate, once again somebody was trying to take the most important person away from him.

Abby hugged him and everyone promised him that they're going to do everything in their power to help him, them.

_I'm not giving that bastard my kid_, Tony exploded and left_._ _I'll do whatever it takes._

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Tony spent the next couple of weeks in purgatory, he knew that Ariela was not his and that bastard Horowitz had a stronger chance.

The night before the results came back, Tony was drinking, for the first time since Ariela was there.

Suddenly she showed up in the living room, holding her teddy bear.

_Daddy, what is going on?, why have you been so worried lately? Are you mad at me, did I do something wrong?_

Tony asked her to sit by his side, but she climbed onto his lap

_Things had been a little bit difficult lately, but nothing is your fault. You're the best daughter a father could've ever asked._

_Then, what's wrong?_

Tony was about to tell her, but suddenly he remembered about Ziva's letter where she told him that Ariela did not know anything about her father's family. God, Tony did not even know under what circumstances she was conceived. So, he chose to ask her a question instead.

_Ella, do you remember "Les Miserables", when Jean Valjean__ took his little girl and ran away with her?_

_Yes_

_Well, maybe we're going to need to do something like that_

_But…why daddy_

_Because there is this bad and ugly guy who wants to take you away from me_

At this point, Ella was crying desperately

_Why?__, I do not want to go. I want to be with you_

_And you won't go anywhere, I promise. But we need to stick together ok?_

_Ok_

They hugged, as Tony tried to keep his tears from falling, rocking his daughter back and forth. After a while Ella finally fell asleep.

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The next day, Tony asked Gibbs to come with him to Langdon's office. The guy was completely sure he was going to win the custody battle. He told them that once the results came back, Ella was going to catch a plane to meet her grandfather.

Tony was furious_. It is not fair boss, that man doesn't even care about Ella, why does he want her?_

After a while Tony spoke again.

_I'm running away with her boss, I won't lose her. Kate died, Paula died, Jenny died... all of them are death because of my stubbornness. And I let them take Ziva away. But I won't make the same mistake, now I have the chance to make things right. _Tony was desperate, but he was also determined to keep the promise he made to himself.

_They will find you DiNozzo, running away is not going to make things right._

_I don't care boss. She's staying with me no matter what. And running away is our only choice right now._

There was a knock on the door and Langdon entered the room. Tony and Gibbs were nervous, but when Langdon opened the envelope, they knew something was wrong because of what they read on Langdon's facial expression.

_You were right Mr. DiNozzo, Ariela is your daughter. The results came back positive. Here it says that you are Ariela's biological father._

Tony and Gibbs couldn't believe it, they knew it was not possible, but decided to remain silent.

_Please send this results to your client and ask him not to bother us again._Tony said.

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Once they were back at NCIS, they shared the news with the team and everyone was happy for Tony and Ella, but he still couldn't understand how that happened.

Gibbs asked McGee to check the surveillance videos from the lab that made the tests.

_Boss there was a failure in the system, it seems that the cameras did not record anything, literally anything during 50 secs last night._

_What?_

_I don't know what happened boss, but the screen went black, nothing else, _McGee said

Tony started to thank them, because he thought one of them went into the lab and changed the results. But when they exchanged glances among each other, Tony realised that no one on the team was responsible.

_I don't understand, if you did not help us, then who did?_

In that moment he remembered Ziva's words.

_**You kept your promise, you did it Ziva, when you said that you're always going to be with us.**_

THE END

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_A/N3: I really hope you like. Once again thank you to all who read it and Please Review._


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